Beer Ye, Beer Ye: Raised By Wolves IPA (Driftwood Brewery, Victoria)

You may have noticed a wolf motif cropping up on the occasional beer label and name. It’s no coincidence, it’s just breweries getting creative with their Latin.

No, they don’t teach you how to conjugate Latin verbs at brewing school — but most people in the industry know that the scientific name for the common hop plant is Humulus lupulus, or the wolf vine. Legend has it that the Romans coined the comparison of hop and wolf, describing the plant as hiding and thriving among others like a wolf among sheep.

And it’s true, hops do grow like crazy in the right conditions. But there’s also a chance the name was a dig by the wine-loving Romans about the northern barbarians and this essential ingredient in their favourite drink. (Allow me this historical licence, even if hops didn’t start finding their way into beer until 600 AD or so.)

Whatever the story, hops and wolves have long been linked, so it’s a natural theme for hop-forward beers like Driftwood‘s most recent IPA.

The Victoria brewery is justifiably famous for its Fat Tug IPA, a mighty, full-blooded West Coast-style IPA that has found distribution as far afield as the U.K. Raised By Wolves (7% ABV) appears at first to be a gentler beast — but like those wolves among the sheep, its bitter bite and strength can sneak up on you.

Surprisingly, there’s only one hop varietal in this beer, the U.S.-grown Equinox, whose distinct fruity-spicy qualities are boosted by the similarly expressive Saccharomyces trois yeast.

Aroma: Lush perfume of tropical fruit: melon, pineapple, mango and lime. There’s a crackle of grains of paradise and an almost cumin-like earthy spice. Below the perceived sweetness of the hop profile is a lightly bready, lightly sweet malt base. 11/12

Flavour: Much of that bright, lightly tart fruit in the aroma is up front on the palate, with mango, pineapple, grapefruit and lime featuring strongly; a touch of carbonation bite and a nippy white-pepper spiciness gives the flavour profile a lively depth. Through the mid, a sweet-savoury-spicy red pepper flavour develops before a generous hop bitterness — perhaps a smidgen too harsh — in the finish. A lightly toasted breadiness comes through in the aftertaste. 16/20

Final thoughts: If you’re going to run with the wolves, you’re not going to play by the rules. This is an intense, heady, free-spirited, exotic-tasting beer. 8/10

Final score: 43/50

Food pairing: With such an array of flavours in this beer, you’re going to want something equally diverse. A meat and cheese board would fit the bill. You’re going to want to stack it with salty cured hams and herbed salami. In terms of cheese, try an aged cheddar. The beer will almost act like pickle: fruity, bright, tart and palate cleansing. Keep the bread option simple with something like a baguette.

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